Thankful Turkeys

Last Sunday, we did a family craft to talk about what we are thankful for. We each made a turkey on each feather we wrote some thing for which we are thankful. Here is what the Wilcoxen are thankful for (these are in no particular order):

Andy:

Family

Airplanes

My job

Family vacations

People who are patient with me

Skype

Jesus

Health

Friends who love us

Church

Our life in China

Sarah

Becca, Josh, and Tori

Sarah:

Our good health

Becca, Josh and Tori

Andy

Family time

Xiao Lu Ayi

Life in China

Our wonderful family

Friends (near and far)

Date nights

Small group

Visitors

God's love

Opportunity to go to school

Becca:

Peanut butter

Mom

Josh

Jesus 

School

House 

Friends

Food

Tori

Dad

Josh:

Friends

School

Family vacation

Food

Family

Meat

Grandparents

Honey

Jesus

Tori:

Grandma

Daddy

Tori

My room

Josh

Mommy

Grandpa

Becca

My house

We truly have so much to be thankful for!

Thanksgiving #1

Last year, we celebrated Thanksgiving at a friend's house, but this year we will be celebrating 3 (yes, that is right 3) Thanksgivings at OUR HOUSE. Gracious, what was I thinking? But all of our celebrating will be done on other days than the actual day, because Thanksgiving is just another day here in China: Andy has to work, the kids have school, and I have classes. In fact, on Thanksgiving evening we will be eating Chinese food because I will be teaching English in the afternoon. :-)

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving on Tuesday and had friends over to our house. I skipped classes so that I could prepare. While people contributed food, I made the bulk of the traditional fare. We had  corn bread pudding, mashed potatoes, stuffing, dao dou (a kind of Chinese bean very similar to french-cut green beans), cranberry sauce (made from dried cranberries), pumpkin & apple pies, sweet potato casserole, and of course turkey. Since nothing comes from a can, box or bag, it takes a bit of time to prepare. For the first time, I made a pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin! 

There was a total of 25 people (including our kids) and for many of them, this was their first Thanksgiving. I always find it surprising what people from other countries like/don't like of our traditional foods. One of the girls was at first freaked out by the cranberry sauce because she thought it was made from the blood of the turkey (I kid you not!). She tried it after much reassurances that it was a fruit and from no part of the turkey (and she really liked it). I asked one of the guys if he had eaten turkey before, and he answered, "Yeah, at Subway." Hmmm, not quite the same! And he agreed after sampling the roasted turkey yumminess. People's favorites were: cranberry sauce, corn bread pudding, turkey, and the pumpkin pie. All in all a successful Thanksgiving #1!

Some of the guys doing the dishes after the meal. I will happily cook if other people will clean up my mess! ;-)

Doing some final preparations

One of the tables (people sitting here are from: France, India, Sierra Leone, Hong Kong, ....)

Family Photo Shoot

Over the summer when we were back in the US, I had wanted to get some family pictures taken. We have had ones done of the kids in recent years, but it had been a while since we did a whole family picture. But somehow getting that done just wasn't high on the priority list during our short time back in the summer. Andy and I asked a friend who enjoys photography if he would take some pictures of our family here. He said that he had not taken any family portraits before, but that if we were game he was willing to try. He joking said that he found this site for inspiration. We went to the park that is right by our neighborhood. I don't know about you, but I think that he did an amazing job! I think the thing I like most about the pictures is that they reflect our life right now - much more than a studio (or even a park in the US) would have.

There is this random sculpture thing in the park and we wondered if this would turn out to be an "awkward family photo" (see the link above). We decided to give it a try. Turned out to be a fun one! Though we wonder what Tori was doing....

Same sculpture from a different angle

My little man (I think he looks so much like Andy in this pic)

Now I know that I am biased, but I think that they are a really cute bunch.

The kiddos amongst some really funky trees

omigosh, is she cute or what? no one told her to pose this way.... it is all Tori.

The Seat Game

Each day as I have ridden home I watch people choose their seats. People get on and seriously scan to find just the right seat. I find humor that something so small is a big decision. But as I thought more about it, I also have preferred seats. My faves are the middle section. I am back far enough that I don't immediately have to give my seat up, but can still study. The danger of these is that as the bus fills up (which it often does), there is a great risk that I will need to give up my seat. Now not everyone gives up their seat but I feel incredibly guilty as I sit there and people much older than me stand. I rarely if ever sit in the front because even though there are no signs, these seats seemed to be reserved for the older, disabled, and people with small children. The back is my next choice as I rarely have to give up my seat. But the risk of these seats is that I can only study for about 15 minutes (of my 40 minute ride) before I start to feel slightly carsick. On the way to school I never have to make this decision as I usually stand most of the way. Because the bus is PACKED in the mornings. My decision is pretty straight forward, but others will move to a different seat within the bus as more preferred seats open up. It seems that the middle seats are the most preferred, followed by those in the first row of the back section. Then if it is a warm and sunny day, the seats that are in the sun will fill up last and people will quickly move out of those as others become available. Who knew choosing your seat on the bus had so many factors? And these are only the ones I can observe, I am sure there are more that I am unaware of!

Haircuts galore

Last Friday the girls and I went and got our hair cut. I took all the kids one afternoon after school. This is one of those things that is so minor, but trying to explain exactly what you want using the little Chinese I know is a bit of a challenge. I felt up to the challenge for the girls, but I went with a Chinese friend later on Friday to get mine cut. For some reason, I can be a little more picky about my hair. Becca got 4-5 inches cut off , Tori close to 6, and they both look so adorable. Some before and after shots:

Before:

Tori screamed and howled as they were washing her hair. And since she speaks some Chinese, she kept pleading with them to be finished.  But she was all smiles once she was in the chair. 

After:

Admiring her new 'do. She wanted it cut as short as Josh's but we compromised on shoulder length.

Before:

This was taken almost a month ago but in all other pics of her, Becca has her hair back.

After:

Oh, my. Is my little girl growing up on me?

The Super Yummy

Andy was traveling some this week. One of the nights the kids and I walked up to Papa John's for dinner. We ordered this meal deal: 1 large pizza, wings, sodas, and then it came with soup. We really didn't want the soup, but the waitress said we could substitute this in its place:

It is Sprite and strawberry ice cream, and the kids have christened it "The Super Yummy". They even wanted to make the Super Yummy for Daddy's first night back. I think the best part is the glowing spoons! So tell me, does your Papa John's have these? 

Trick-or-Treat

Every year, our neighborhood here in China has trick or treat. There is trick or treating first followed by a party at the clubhouse. Here are the required pics of the costumes (though you will notice that Becca is missing. She went with her friends and I never did get a picture of her):

Tori as Minnie Mouse

Josh was a pirate. Though at this point he had discarded some of his pirate paraphernalia. Here he is sitting with one of his friends from school.

I got elected to go the party with the older two (Tori was tuckered out). But I won a prize at the party, oh-yeah!